June 30th 2014: Biking the West Boylston/Holden portion of the Mass Central Rail Trail

Today after work, I decided to bike the West Boylston/Holden section of the Mass Central Rail Trail, starting at ~151 Thomas Street in West Boylston and ending at the end of Mill Street in Holden.

The start line is situated near the Wachusett Reservoir, where there was a beautiful view.

The trail here follows the Quinapoxet River,

with a break by the Quabbin Aqueduct.

Eventually, I passed by the I-190 bridge overhead as I passed over into Holden.

In Holden, I passed by the old Springdale Mill site,

and the Kaplan bridges.

There's a beautiful view from Manning Street,

and another further up the way.

This part of the trail is especially treacherous and steep, and I had to get off my bike several times, even on the downslope stretch.

On Mill Street itself, I saw a deer that did not seem scared of me,

but the waterfall at the end of the trail on Mill Street was pretty amazing.

Never even knew this existed till now.

From here, I headed all the way back to my car. As I did not want to travel the treacherous way again, I decided to take the road, travelling along Manning Street all the way to West Boylston.

In West Boylston, I decided to grab dinner at Brown Rice Thai Cuisine, a pretty small town place.

I got the Rama Duck (crispy roast duck simmered in red curry and peanut sauce).

It looked pretty simple, but tasted not too bad actually, though nothing extraordinary.

A pretty good ride today I should say, considering I have not cycled the past 2 weeks.

June 29th 2014: Dinner at Sabor De Mi Tierra, Chelsea

After a day of doing food truck stuff, I decided to grab a late dinner at Sabor De Mi Tierra, a Dominican restaurant at 162 Park Street in the town of Chelsea. A typical hole in the wall place, there wasn't even a proper menu, and I could not even use my coupon here as the place had recently changed ownership. I don't even know what I got, although I pretty much got everything they had left, after I told them I was a newcomer to the place.

The soup, beef and chicken I got were just okay I guess. Can't expect more from a crappy town like Chelsea.

June 28th 2014: Lunch at Beijing Dumpling House, Milford

After a day of shopping with my mom, I decided to bring her for lunch at Beijing Dumpling House in Milford. I have heard good things about this place before, and had always wanted to come here, and today was my chance. I wasn't expecting the hole in the wall it was though. We got several dishes, including the Sichuan Wonton,

the Beijing Fried Spring Roll,

the Beijing Beef Noodle Soup,

the Moist Steamed Buns with Crab Meat,

the Soy Milk,

the Sesame Pancake

and the Fried Bread Sticks.

Of the dishes, I probably would not get the soup, the milk and the pancake. Both the milk and pancake were pretty bland, although it was kinda expected, while the soup was just alright. I wish I had tried more of the different types of dumplings available here though. Overall, definitely a hidden gem for authentic Chinese food.

June 24th 2014: A Free Dinner at Firebrand Saints, Cambridge

Today after work, I had to go into Cambridge for a networking event, but before that, I decided to grab some food from Crossroads Irish Pub in Boston. Even though there were 2 World Cup soccer games going on, there were few people in the dark dive bar, indicating how popular the sport is with the American crowd. As I was in a hurry, I got everything to go, getting the Mac and Cheese Bites (Twelve creamy, spicy, battered fried bites),

the Potato Cakes (baby greens, herbed sour cream, black pepper and balsamic glaze)

and the Chicken Curry (Grilled chicken simmered in Irish curry sauce served over rice and topped with grilled vegetables).

The curry was decent, though nothing extraordinary. The mac and cheese wasn't too bad either, especially with the spice in it. The potato cakes were okay I guess, but nothing much else to them, and the sour sauce wasn't much to my liking.

From here, I hurried to the event at Firebrand Saints, which I have been to once in the past. The event was hosted by Squadle, an online database management company. Overall, my partner and I did not learn much from the event, but at least we got some free food in return for our attendance in the form of several appetizers, namely the Deep Fried Battered Onions (with scallion buttermilk dressing),

the Fire Roasted Rotisserie Platter (with porchetta, roast beef, grilled country sourdough, pickles, & sauces)

and a plate of Hummus (with pine nuts), Spiced Carrot Puree and Tzatziki.

I have to say, the onions were what impressed me the most, as I had no idea they were onions at all until I got home and checked the website. Fantastic to say the least, considering I usually stay away from onions.

I had to go home early as I had left my phone at work, but it was good to get out to the Boston area for once in a while.

June 23rd 2014: Driving a Dragster in Epping NH

I had to wake up early this morning for my first experience driving a dragster at the New England Dragway in Epping NH, with Pure Speed Drag Racing Experience.

my mom and I arrived a little early, and the dragsters we were to ride were already out on display.

We could look into the cockpit itself as well.

I went out to the track as well to take some pictures.

After registering, the drivers had to go into a shed for instructions on how to operate the dragster, with the left leg for the brake and the right for the accelerator, and the procedure for each run, which included a burnout phase involving spinning the tires on a wet surface to get dirt off it before heading to the start line.

To start, one positions the car such that the top set of small lights lights up, and then move slowly forward until the tires trip the lower set of lights.

With the lighting of the traffic lights, one can slam the accelerator on the 3 third set of yellow lights, and off the dragster goes.

On the first run, we were to let go of the accelerator at the first beacon, while we were to do so on the second beacon on the second run.

Once done, we were to head to the end of the track, turn around the wall and head back to the start line on a pretty bumpy road, as the dragster itself has little suspension to handle the bumps. We were then to wait in line for the next run, if we had more to go.

After the briefing was done, we were assigned to our cars, and as I had only 2 runs, I ended up being the last driver in the last car. This meant that I had to wait till around noon before my turn. A tour of the track in a van was done first, and then a demonstration run by a driver.

Finally it was time to get jackets and helmets and to head to our cars.

The cockpit itself was pretty narrow and hard to get into, and like for IndyCar racing, I had to get additional cushions in order to reach the brake and accelerator pedals. The pedals themselves felt a little weird, as they were more like knobs than pads.

The turning was a little weird as well with the small axles, but I somehow got the hang of it.

I could not get the burnout part right though, stepping on the accelerator too slowly when prompted and letting go and braking too fast for fear of speeding past the start line.

As I was going straight, I did not need to maneuver the steering too much. Unlike the other riders who did 3 runs, I was unable to accelerate all the way, hence my maximum speed was only over 70 mph.

On top of that, there were no turns involved, hence I felt it was even less exciting than IndyCar racing, especially with the bumpy ride back after each run.

After finally leaving, I decided to get the video, and my time slip.

With that, we headed to Kume, a Japanese restaurant in town.

Pretty decent decor, but I could not say the same about the food, even though they were presented pretty well.

The Beef Sukiyaki (Thinly sliced beef, bean curd, Japanese noodles and vegetables w. sukiyaki sauce) was a little too sweet for me,

while the Sushi and Sashimi Combination was definitely not fresh.

Only the Ice Beauty pieces were not too bad, but nothing extraordinary either.

At least my mom enjoyed the food I guess.

We headed home for the day after that, passing by Haverhill MA,

New Life Christian Assembly of God

tired after a long day in New Hampshire. Definitely not into dragster racing.

June 21st 2014: Shopping With My Mom

Today, I headed out with my mom to do some shopping, eventually ending up at the Solomon Pond Mall in Marlborough.

After we were finally done with shopping, we decided to go to the nearby Olive Garden restaurant in town for a late lunch, the one place my mom always likes to go when she comes.

The menu has totally changed from the last time I was here, but it was still pretty interesting. My mom decided to go with the Lasagna Fresca with Shrimp (Hand-folded vegetable lasagna, sautéed shrimp and grilled tomatoes with sun-dried tomato sauce),

while I got the Stuffed Chicken Marsala (Creamy marsala wine sauce with mushrooms over an oven-roasted chicken breast, stuffed with Italian cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes. Served with garlic-parmesan mashed potatoes). 

Both were actually pretty good, although the portions seemed a little small, despite me being pretty full at the end of the meal.

We also got the Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberries (Sweet summer strawberries top a rich and creamy vanilla custard inspired by Italy's mountainous Piedmont region) for dessert,

which was pretty tasty as well, especially with those sweetened strawberries.

After lunch, we headed back home, stopping by Austin Liquors in Shrewsbury to get some wine. I never noticed the statue sitting on the bench near the entrance here.

With that, we went home for the day, tired after a long day of shopping.